A dramatic change in reporting of the financing of political campaigns has passed the Legislature and been sent to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for her consideration.

It is practically a jumble of several bills that all dealt with the shadowy netherworld of financing of election campaigns and for the first time will eliminate what has become a notorious 11-day "blackout" period before primary and general elections during which contributions are made, money spent and influence generated during the time of the most furious campaigning.

Current campaign finance law calls for reports of who contributed what to whom and how it is spent, but that report is filed 11 days before the primary and general elections.

Eleven days is a lot of time.

That 11-day blackout period -- during which contribution and spending information isn't made public -- creates essentially two campaigns for each election.

Here's how it plays out for a candidate with a primary election, then a general election:

One primary campaign is for the friends, family, and people who don't mind--or even want to go public -- as a supporter of a candidate. Those contributions come in early and are reported 11 days before the primary election, if there is one.

But contributions made after that 11-days-before-the-primary don't get reported publicly until 11 days before the general election. That means, for example, nobody knows who helped finance that last-few-days mailing and TV and radio and newspaper campaigning blitz that makes one candidate or another seem virtually invincible in the eyes of primary election voters.

The bill on its way to the governor will require campaigns to report daily during what has been that "blackout" period contributions of $300 or more and expenditures right up until Election Day. That means, for example, that campaigns will know that the opposition is lining up a giant mailing campaign or choking newspapers and TV channels with so many ads you won't be able to tell what the new Fords look like.

It essentially eliminates that "second" round of fundraising and spending for each election, in which nobody knows for sure who is contributing to campaigns and what the money is being spent on until the election is over.

Why is that important?

If a voter happens to be a big fan of windmill-generated electricity, for example, and sees a giant contribution from, say, a coal company in the late days of a campaign, well, that voter must wonder whether that candidate is the one he/she wants elected.

Or, if you are pro-choice, or anti-abortion, you'd probably care about last-minute contributions from groups or individuals associated with one side or the other of that political issue.

It requires the simple presumption that political action committees, companies and individuals are smart enough to contribute to the campaigns of candidates who share their views. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's probably something voters ought to have the information to consider. Oh, and that presumption? It's correct.

The new reporting bill, if it becomes law, probably also puts the news media to a test of its own. It's one thing to laud the change as earth-shaking new access to important public information, but it's another to devote the time and resources to report that information to the public.

The new campaign finance reporting bill just might change the political landscape in Kansas -- or, it might not ...

Syndicated by Hawver News Co. of Topeka, Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver's Capitol Report. To learn more about this statewide political news service, visit the Web site at www.hawvernews.com.